


Friendly Sparring

by ehagaki



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: :), Abrupt Ending, Best Friends, F/M, Friendly Sparring, Spinel - Freeform, Steven Universe - Freeform, Steven x spinel, Stevinel, short fic, sorry - Freeform, they kiss, with benefits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24196357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ehagaki/pseuds/ehagaki
Summary: Steven and Spinel are best friends who kiss.
Relationships: Spinel/Steven Universe
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Friendly Sparring

**Author's Note:**

> I ship em lol. I just whipped this up because there isn’t much in this tag. enjoy

“Hey! No stretching, that’s against the rules, remember?” Steven said in between laughs, dodging Spinel’s very close punches that could have easily broken a few bones in his face.

He was light on his feet, and had a confident expression as he felt the cold wind sneak through his jacket. Briskly swinging around every punch that she threw with the risk of getting knocked down. But that was of no matter to him, since his only goal during their friendly sparring was to get close enough to hit his pink pal with his most recent discovery - the bubble fist. 

“Whoops- I don’t remember there being  _ any  _ rules!” Spinel protested, reeling in one of her stretchy arms. Even though she clearly remembers him laying down a few ground rules a few sessions back, they still let a few slide. 

Like encouragement. Steven wanted everything except friendly rivalry while they fought. He wanted the thrill of a real fight, but nonetheless still found himself praising her when she did a certain move or two. Neither of them really minded though, mostly because this was just for fun. When Steven found the flow of daily challenges too bothersome, his best friend Spinel was always there to help him blow off some steam by channeling his anger through some friendly sparring. 

  
  


Spinel of course had made a mental note to go easy on Steven, even though he had begged her to hit him with her best shot. Not wanting to risk an accident, she did her best to be gentle but rough at the same time — since her strength was no match for his human strength, though he didn’t seem to notice.

Thinking quickly, the teen used the time that Spinel took to reel in her stretchy limbs and sprinted toward her. He leaped upward, running with the idea of throwing his attack from above and fazed a bubble shield around himself in mid air.  _ He was finally going to end this, once and for all after the three consecutive hours that they have been at it. _

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him - she had seen this a long time coming from a mile away. But she decided to let him have this one, since he hadn’t  _ technically  _ won any of their fights in the past. Before he could, Spinel dropped herself on to the ground, lessening the force of the impact of him when he landed on top of her. 

He propped himself up with his hands on either side of her, and pulled back with a stupid grin. “How did I do?” 

Steven examined the pink gem’s expression. It was exhilarating for him. She appeared to be very shocked, though it was all part of making him think that their  _ unexpected  _ collision was unheard of.  _ He couldn’t wait to finally hear her admit that she lost to Steven Universe. _

she eyed him up and down with a goofy smile of her own, ”Whichever way where I don’t have to say that I lost,” she says a bit reluctantly, but laughter followed soon after. 

After getting the answer that he more or less expected, Steven smiles triumphantly and finally climbs off of her while a few moments of comfortable silence passes as they catch their breath. 

Spinel sits up beside him and follows his gaze up at the sky. Steven was a completely different person, only getting competitive during their fights. As soon as it ended, he went right back to his regular old Steven self. 

“We were so busy fighting that I didn’t even realize how clear you can see the stars out,” he chuckles, bringing his knees up to his chest and smiling over to her. 

“Pssh. Yeah, yeah. It’s so clear, huh? Can you see Homeworld from here then?” rolling her eyes, she smiled at him with a mocking grin. 

Looking back up, he checked to see if her jokes were actually true out of curiosity.

“Yes, actually.” 

“What?” 

He pointed at something in the sky that appeared to be the brightest star in the sky at the moment. It looked purple-ish from here, and close beside it was a smaller one. 

Spinel’s eyes were a bit round from shock as she gazed up to where he pointed, but she wasn’t too surprised. This led her to another silly thought. 

Stroking her chin in both pretend and genuine curiosity and to humor Steven, she murmured. “I wonder if the Diamonds can see us from all the way up there...”

Steven trembled from the thought. The Diamonds watching them at all times made his skin crawl, but somehow wasn’t far-fetched at all. They’d  _ totally  _ do it if they could. “I would hope not,” he says, laughing a little.

By now, the adrenaline from their play fight was wearing off, and Steven began to remember why they were even here in the first place. Because he was trying to forget about something. 

But no matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn’t figure out  _ what.  _ It was many things that he was worried about, but most of it had to do with his own mom. 

“Thanks for coming all the way out here again, Spinel. I had a lot of fun today,” he spoke again after a few moments of silence. 

She nudged him in the arm, smiling warmly. “Don’t mention it, Mister Universe,” 

He chuckled at his new nickname from her. He tended to have a new nickname each time they saw each other. 

Steven decided that he didn’t want to think about the things that worried him. He wanted to be at peace, at least for right now. So that’s what he did.

He always enjoyed Spinel’s company. She was silly, a real mood lifter and a good pal. Her dark humor was somewhat oddly satisfying sometimes, and he often got a real laugh out of jokes that involved She Who Must Not Be Named. 

There were many times when he didn’t want Spinel to leave back to Homeworld after a day of hanging out, but he did his best to not let that be obvious. Steven didn’t want to attach himself to someone who didn’t feel the same way. He seemed to act clingy, or even more vulnerable around her. It was just something that seemed to happen when they were together, and with no one else. Spinel had picked up on it and definitely didn’t mind either.

But looking into Spinel’s big, round eyes… he was reminded about how recently, he just felt so estranged. So distant, and he didn’t feel like himself. So much so that he wasn’t thinking much before he made decisions or said things. He felt like when he did things, he wasn’t  _ truly  _ Steven Universe. He was just someone who was searching for something, but he just didn’t know what…

And before he could realize what was happening, Steven’s face was slowly moving in closer to Spinels, and she just let it happen. Normally, he would be mad at her for not stopping him or even saying anything, but this time he didn’t care. He just wanted to do something and feel like himself this time. 

His eyes drifted closed, and their lips gently brushed against each other, warm and tentative. 

Spinel froze. She let the shock of the moment pass before she let her previously wide eyes slip closed. 

Instinctively, he felt himself deepening the kiss.  _ Finally.  _ It made him feel something other than numbness. 

He had placed one of his hands on her shoulder, and then another on the back of her head. Spinel let out a little gasp at this, and Steven forced himself to pull away. Neither of them said a word for a few seconds, and they only stared, wide-eyed. Steven took his hands off of her and folded them together as they twitched to be back on her again.

“Ugh… Spinel, I’m  _ so _ sorry, I-I… don’t know what came over m-“ But she had reached a hand out and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Spinel smiles, a little more malevolent than she had intended to, and pulled him back to her. The rest of his words were lost against her lips. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> idk leave a comment or something that would make me really happy or something idk 😳


End file.
